Crock-Pot® Blog

4 Kitchen Hacks That Will Change Your Meals Forever

When you're juggling the responsibilities of a career and household management, dinner duties can be challenging. However, there are a number of hacks that people have discovered to streamline the process of making homemade meals without sapping all of your energy. Follow this guide, and your meal prep will be forever changed.

Don't let a stray egg shell ruin your dish.

1. Remove Stubborn Egg Shells
We've all been there before: You're hastily cracking eggs and a tiny piece of the shell winds up in your bowl or pan. It's nearly impossible to remove it with your spoon or finger. Rather than just leave it in there and hope for the best, there's an easy way to get it out on the first try. All you need to do is wet your finger before swooping in and removing it.

2. Make Perfect Portions
After making a big batch of soup, you'll want to make sure none of it goes to waste. You can pour it into a big bowl and freeze it, but then every time you defrost it, you'll degrade its quality. Instead, pour it into a cupcake tray and store it in the freezer. When you just want a small bowl of soup, pop out one of the servings to defrost.

Speed up the ripening time of an avocado.

3. Don't Wait for Perfect Avocados
It can be tough to pick the best avocado. Too ripe, and you'll be left with a slimy mess. Too firm, and you'll have to wait a few days before eating it - unless, of course, you try this hack. To speed up the ripening of an avocado, all you have to do is place it on a newspaper with a banana. It'll be ready for you to eat in no time, thanks to the natural gas bananas produce.

4. Cut Out Meal Prep Altogether
Another secret to getting it all accomplished with minimal effort is Crock-Pot® Cuisine. Why spend your time creating a list of ingredients, shopping around the grocery store and waiting in line when you could just click a few buttons instead? All you need to do is select four chef-inspired meals offered on the Crock-Pot® Cuisine website and place your order, and all of the ingredients will be delivered straight to your doorstep, already prepared. All you need to do is place the meal in your slow cooker, add in any other ingredients you'd like, and you can feed your entire family a home-cooked, nutritious meal.